Conventional house trailers have, for many years, included a generally triangular-shaped tongue permanently secured to one of the narrow sides (front) of the trailer and protruding three to four feet from the trailer, while the trailer is being towed, while the trailer is temporarily located on a sales lot, and when the trailer is in a trailer park and being used as a home. The conventional tongue, being permanently secured to the trailer, not only takes up substantial space, but also presents a safety hazard which can be easily tripped over by a person walking through the area or by children playing in the area.
While there are numerous hitch assemblies in the prior art, those disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,716,255 and 3,759,547 are the most relevant to the subject matter of the invention disclosed herein.
The portable tongue shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,255 is adapted to be removably secured to an elongated channel beam fixed to a trailer with the channel beam having a centrally located opening therein and a web projecting from its lower edge. The tongue includes a pair of diverging arms fixed to an elongated, generally flat, hitching beam having a centrally located opening therein adapted for alinement with the opening in the channel beam of the trailer and a hook on its lower edge adapted for wrapping partially around and engaging the web projecting from the channel beam of the trailer. A bolt is inserted through the aligned openings in the channel beam of the trailer and the hitching beam of the tongue for securing the tongue to the trailer by applying a nut upon the bolt.
The portable tongue shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,547 is adapted to be removably secured to a complex beam structure fixed to the load bearing understructure of a trailer. The complex beam structure includes a pair of connection plates with each plate having a plurality of openings therein. The tongue includes a pair of diverging arms, each having a connection plate with a plurality of openings therein and adapted for alinement with the openings in a respective connection plate fixed to the complex beam structure of the load bearing understructure of the trailer. The tongue is secured to the trailer by aligning the openings in the two pairs of connection plates, inserting a bolt vertically through the aligned openings and applying a nut to each bolt.
The prior art portable tongues for trailers, including those discussed above, have not been readily accepted by industry and presented problems and disadvantages particularly when compared to the simple, inexpensive, portable tongue of the present invention. The conventional tongues which are permanently fixed to the trailer, not only add costs to the trailer and take up substantial space while the trailer is temporarily parked in either a sales lot or more permanently parked in a trailer park, they also present a major safety hazard to people walking or playing around the trailer when so parked. There is, therefore, a need for a rugged, durable, and inexpensive removable (portable) tongue for trailers which overcome the problems and disadvantages of the prior art and conventional tongues for trailers. The portable (removable) tongue of the present invention fulfills these needs.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, inexpensive, and portable tongue for connecting a house trailer to a towing vehicle for towing the house trailer from one location to another with the tongue being adapted for easy disconnection from both the towing vehicle and house trailer.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a portable tongue for use with the frame of a trailer which can be readily and easily detached from the frame of the trailer by the removal of a limited number of securing members without the need for special tools or mechanical skills.
These objects as well as other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.